Allen West to run for reelection in different Florida district

posted at 6:10 pm on January 31, 2012 by Allahpundit

Tea party firebrand Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday that he will switch districts and run for reelection in Florida’s new 18th district…

Rep. Tom Rooney’s (R-Fla.) decision earlier Tuesday to run in the open and Republican-leaning 17th district rather than the swing 18th freed West up to make the switch to the neighboring district, which is just north of his current district, which spans from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale.

“Congressman Rooney is a statesman and has been an honorable public servant to the constituents of Florida’s 16th Congressional district,” West said, referring to Rooney’s current district, which is re-numbered from 16 to 18 under the new plan. “It is my goal to continue the success Congressman Rooney has had in Florida’s 16th Congressional district in the newly proposed 18th district. I welcome the challenges and excitement that lie ahead.”

According to WaPo’s analysis of the new Florida map last week, Rooney and West were the two big losers from redistricting, with each of their home bases turning roughly four points bluer. That’s the bad news; the good news is that the 18th (i.e. the 16th) District has been more reliably Republican in recent years than West’s 22nd has. Mark Foley (yes, that Mark Foley) won reelection by huge margins there in 2002 and 2004 and then lost by less than two points amid the big blue wave of 2006 after his scandal broke. Rooney then crushed the incumbent Democrat by 20 points in 2008 and crushed his latest Democratic challenger by 30 points in 2010. Given West’s war chest and tea-party support in the primary, he should be safe.

So then, back to the lingering question: Did the dreaded GOP establishment really try to force him out by making the 22nd District more blue? I managed to goad Sean Trende of RCP into developing what he sent me yesterday into a full post, so read that now to see why he’s skeptical.

The Fair Districts Initiative amended the state’s constitution as follows:

“Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.”

So there are a few problems for West here. First, the legislature is specifically prohibited from drawing a district to favor him.

Second, and more importantly, his district has to be compact, and make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries. Go to Dave’s Redistricting site and play around with the South Florida districts. It is very, very difficult to draw a compact, purple-leaning district based in Palm Beach County that doesn’t cross city boundaries and that doesn’t also weaken Rooney in the 16th (and even that latter tactic may be impermissible, since the legislature is supposed to avoid needlessly crossing county lines).

The Initiative made it hard to play favorites even if the Republicans in charge of redistricting wanted to. In fact, West’s own wife told the Miami Herald today that she didn’t think the 22nd had been made more Democratic to disadvantage him specifically. Ah well. It’s a moot point now — unless and until any shenanigans start with redrawing the lines of the 18th. Via the Right Scoop, here’s West’s interview yesterday with Mark Levin in which he refuses to speculate on whether anyone’s out to get him. Click the image to listen.

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Excellent. The redistricting gets done, Allen West runs in a much better district just a short jog away and the facts come out that, yes, the district had to be changed due to Constitutional Amendment to Florida’s state constitution and that, no, the Illuminati (or, Establishment Republicans) weren’t picking on Allen West: demographics are just a b!tch.

Thank the Lord. Although I won’t doubt that we’ll still see ‘True Conservatives’ blaming Romney and The Establishment even after all this.

Then Romney can try and run him out of that one too. Any “tea party” icon who cannot be bought out and co-opted will be liquidated. I’m personally glad that there’s at least one standard bearer who hasn’t thrown in the establishment towel, like Haley and Ayotte.

1. Superman wears Allen West pajamas when he goes to bed.
2. Death once had a near-Allen-West experience.
3. Allen West regularly donates blood to the Red Cross–just not his own.
4. Allen West has a one-of-a-kind grizzly bear rug. The bear is alive; it’s just afraid to move.

Good news all around. I certainly hope West plays a prominent role in the future of the Republican party. We need people like him to drag the rest of the party back towards a traditional, tell-it-like-it-is and damn what people think, attitude.

To all concerned voters: Please be sure to reelect this man whatever district he runs in. America badly needs individuals like this who’ll invite destructive unAmerican leftists to leave the country, as well as RNC chairmen who’ll make honest comparisons between golfing non-Presidents and fast-bailing cruise ship captains.

Leftists: Individuals who should never run any government anywhere, any time, and should never be voted for by any responsible, well-informed citizen.

1. Superman wears Allen West pajamas when he goes to bed.
2. Death once had a near-Allen-West experience.
3. Allen West regularly donates blood to the Red Cross–just not his own.
4. Allen West has a one-of-a-kind grizzly bear rug. The bear is alive; it’s just afraid to move.

If we had a vast majority in the house, sentate, and wh like West, can you imaigne how Repbulic would be next year? Goodness West is a hero and a true American!

But now we have two slinging krap to see we need to vote for to get bho out of Our House. IMO, there isn’t a dimes bit of difference between the two? And with all slinging krap, bho will scoot back to win?

Oh well, as with last time we voted the good ole boys and msm have said, let it be done? My heart aches so much for my country.
L

Sean Trende is way too gentle. It’s flat out impossible to draw West a FDF compliant district based on his current one that is better than the one the Redistricting Committee drawn. Yesterday I offered $1,000 to anyone who could draw it on DRA and present it here and I still maintain that offer.

All this fuss about him being targeted was a bunch of nonsense promoted by the crazy know-nothings in the “real conservative herp derp” talk radio and blogosphere.

GOP leaders may be criminally incompetent, but I just see no upside whatsoever to ousting West. If this was intentional, I hope they are too ashamed now to ever admit it and that they do their best to undo any damage. But I just doubt they meant for this to happen.

Good deal. It sounds like West and Rooney both have an action plan. They’ll get a lot of support from the voters. I continue to assess that, while the Florida GOP probably wasn’t gunning for either representative, it didn’t make it a priority to give their current districts the best new outlines possible. Having examined the maps closely, the issue had nothing to do with the inland-reaching fingers of the current districts. It was about how far north or south the new district lines were drawn. The site I linked to last night made a reasonable case for alternative boundaries in the north and south. There is a good case that there was more than one Fair Districts-compliant solution.

It has done both West and Rooney good for this issue to be aired as it has been. The Florida GOP leadership could have handled the press on it better, knowing how important it would be to a lot of their voters. No points for looking hapless.

Too bad he didn’t move a little further south, and compete with DWS directly. The change in demos the past decade would’ve given West a chance to engage directly with American blacks and non-Cuban ethnic Hispanics, I think they would be receptive to his demeanor and forthrightness, so to help brush aside multiculti tyranny from Dems.

Plus it would allow me to get excited for an election for the first time. Though I like Karen Harrington, I’m not sure if she’ll make it out of the primary this time. I’d be satisfied also by taking shaving clippers to DWS’s melon.

Actually looking in to it, WaPo’s map looks a little off. The one from FL Senate site proposed 17 Jan 2012 looks like there’s a few problems. That district from Orlando to Jacksonville looks like it’s 200miles long fracturing 5 others. Terrible. The ones in Broward and Palm Beach are still rediculous with reach arounds and dipping in the middle of a district.

Good news is it looks like I will no longer be in D-20 and it encompasses DWS’s residence…and of course SouthWest Ranches, home to her family of criminally charged, ethically challenged, scumbag parents several years ago, I think she lives in Weston or something though. Reference “Cash Cow”.

Most of the districts look much better than previously and other states, but a few rotten apples remain. I expect further change, until then I think I’m in D-23.